What do we mean by “Student Success?”

Does college success mean graduation? Approximately half of all students in the U.S. who start a baccalaureate degree graduate within 6 years.  Some educators argue that degree attainment isn’t as important as the learning that comes with it. Is a student who learns still a success, even without completing a degree?  While “enhanced lifetime earnings” is often cited at a primary reason for attending college, is that consistent with the mission of most academic institutions? With numerous measures in use by local, state, and federal education departments, many of them controversial, are there any consistent ways of truly understanding what it means to be successful in college? This conference will highlight promising ways of defining student success, interventions that enhance that success, and assessment practices or program evaluation strategies that focus on informing and guiding our work.

Schedule*

8:00 – 9:00 am Registration and Continental Breakfast, UMass Amherst Campus Center Concourse

9:00 am – 9:45 am Welcome Address, Campus Center Auditorium
Robert L. Caret, President, University of Massachusetts

10:00 – 11:00 am Concurrent Sessions, Campus Center Lower Level and 8th Floor

11:15 – 12:15 pm Keynote Address, Campus Center Auditorium
Dr. George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus and Director, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, Indiana University Bloomington

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm Lunch, Campus Center Auditorium
Dessert will be available on the Campus Center Concourse

1:30 – 2:30 pm Concurrent Sessions, Campus Center Lower Level and 8th Floor

2:45 – 3:45 pm Conference WrapUp with Dr. Randy Swing, Executive Director Association for Institutional Research

3:45 pm – 4:30 pm Wine and Cheese Social, Campus Center Concourse, Lower Level
Come follow-up with presenters, and catch up with colleagues

*Schedule is preliminary and subject to change.

Speakers

Keynote Presenters

George Kuh is adjunct professor at the University of Illinois and Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at Indiana University Bloomington. George founded the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and related instruments for law students, beginning college students, and faculty. He directs two major projects, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (with Stan Ikenberry at the University of Illinois) and the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), the first-ever in-depth look at the factors that help or hinder the careers of graduates of arts-intensive training high schools and postsecondary institutions. At Indiana University he served as chairperson of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (1982-84), associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Education (1985-88), and associate dean of the faculties for the Bloomington campus (1997-2000).

Randy Swing is executive director of the Association for Institutional Research. AIR provides professional development and support for 4,000 members from 1,500 colleges and universities in using data for planning, managing and operating postsecondary institutions. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, workshop leader, and author of books and articles on assessment, institutional research, and student success. Prior to joining AIR he was senior scholar and co-director at the Policy Center on the First Year of College and held leadership positions at Appalachian State University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.

Featured Speaker

Robert L. Caret is president of the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. From 2003 to 2011, he was president of Towson University where he also served as a faculty member, dean, executive vice president and provost during his more than 25-year tenure at the university. Between 1995 and 2003, he left Towson to assume the presidency of San Jose State University. Caret presided over periods of significant growth at both universities and gained national acclaim for eliminating race-based graduation disparities at Towson.

Featured Sessions

Jane Wellman is the founding director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs, Productivity and accountability in Washington, DC. The Delta Project’s mission is to improve productivity in higher education through better targeting of resources to protect student access and the quality of student learning. Wellman is widely recognized for her work in public policy and higher education, with particular expertise in state fiscal policy; cost analysis; strategic planning; state and federal regulation of higher education; accountability metrics and performance reporting; and quality control including accreditation. In November 2010 she was named the Executive Director of the National Association of System Heads (NASH), a membership organization of CEOs of the major public multicampus college and university systems in the U.S. She is also a member of the Association of Governing Boards Consulting Services and serves on the board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Logistics

Lodging

For reservations at the UMass Amherst Campus Center Hotel, call: 1-877-822-2110 or go on-line: https://hotel.aux.umass.edu/

Getting to Campus

Here is a map and directions to campus. When you arrive, look for signs directing you to the Campus Center Parking Garage, located at B3 on this more detailed campus map. For GPS, the address is 1 Campus Center Way. We suggest parking on the second level.

Registration

Upon arrival, park in the Campus Center Parking Garage on the second level, then exit the garage by walking through a short tunnel. After a set of glass doors, turn left and walk directly into the Campus Center. The registration table is located on the lower level. You may take the escalators down, which will be on your left, or the elevators, which will be on your right. For a photo essay of these steps, click here.

Questions

Questions should be addressed to Jackie Brousseau-Pereira, Director of External Affairs, in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences: 413-545-1933